How I made my Rockabilly scrapbook our guest book alternative

I didn't want a guestbook where guests just signed their names — I knew we'd just look at it once and then shove it in a drawer. So I decided to make a guest scrapbook instead! Here's how you can make one…

What you'll need:

scrapbook or photo album

patterned and colored crafting paper

scissors and paper cutter

computer & printer

fun stickers

glue sticks (lots and lots of glue sticks!)

Step 1:
Decide what you want your guests to write about in your scrapbook. My fiance and I went with some basics such as "How do you know the Bride and Groom?" and "Your special wishes for us." Don't forget to include a place for the guests to sign their names.

You can hand-write these bits of information onto the pages, or you can print them out and make copies at your local copy shop (which is what I did).

Step 2:
Find some stickers or free images online that accent your wedding theme. I made sure to have a couple different images to mix and match to make each page look a little different.

Step 3:
Design a space for photos to be inserted later. Guests can take pictures during the reception and after they've been printed you can include pictures of your guests with their scrapbook entry. Our photo placeholder said "Take a picture! We'll put it here" and will also serve as a sort of frame once the photos have been put in.

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Step 4:
Decide on a layout. Arrange the entry pieces, photo placeholder, and decorative images on the page wherever you like. Don't want all of your pages to look the same? Be a rebel, ignore this step!

I cut out all of the page components and organized them in envelopes to make assembling easier.

Step 5:
Get scrapbooking! Get all of your wedding party minions — or in my case my mom, and glue all the pieces together.

Be sure to have a good brand of glue stick!

Step 6:
Add a little flare! Because I set up each guest entry to be two side-by-side pages, I had a blank spot at the beginning and end of the album. I filled this with pictures of my fiance and me, and some more funky stickers. Also, the scrapbook I was using had a window on the front for a picture, so I found a free image online that I liked and slid it in.

Voila! Your very own guestbook that will actually help you remember your big day!

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My only suggestion I would add since multiple guest will be pulling out pages to write on at the same time the pages should be numbered to help them get back into the scrapbook in the correct order. Otherwise this is adorable!!

There are so many great alternatives for guest books. I'm partial to mine though. I make 5 different pages in MicrosoftWord; draw us a picture, leave us a message, answer these questions, favorite memories, and just checking in

The most popular were the draw something pages.. my one friend ilistrated our whole relationship in stick figures, another drew a ninja turtle face and wrote a giant paragraph about how we were family.

Then I printed off 20 of each and had a little table with markers, pens, and a sign that said take a page back to your table then put it in the binder when its done.

I love the book you made. I think I'm going to make a 12×12 scrapbook, I like having a bigger space to work with. I want to warn you that your pages might fall apart because glue sticks don't hold up very well over the years and aren't usually acid free. If you're able to, stop by michaels and grab a tape runner. It's good to have on hand if you notice that your pics are starting to slide. Scotch's tape runner is a good one and is safe for your pics.

My daughter wants to do something like this for her wedding but we talked about what to do if pictures or papers fall out so I suggested that we use several different type of scrap paper designs and have guest sign it or write message and then after the wedding we can put it together. That way we can design the book the way she wants to remember the day with. Her friends always have get together activities so she can take the book with her to show it off if they want to see what she had put together.

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